When Life Gives You Lemons

I know it’s been awhile, but yep, we’re still alive and yep, we’re still in the Heights–just a new neighborhood! Don’t worry, we’ll have lots of bright yellow before–and not-so-yellow after– photos to show you soon.

Needless to say, things have been busy around our little pueblo. Robb survived his first year of law school and is now interning for a legal aid firm in Akron. I’m only working 4 days a week now at AP, so since I have Fridays off I can do fun things like bake vegan lemon poppy seed cookies:

Oh yes, they are scrumptious in every possible way–and you know I wouldn’t be baking on a Friday morning unless it was a pretty easy recipe, too. Here’s what you need:

3/4 cup sugar; 3/4 cup brown sugar; 3/4 cup margarine ; 3/4 cup soy yogurt (i used vanilla) ; 1 & 1/2 tsp vanilla ; 3/4 tsp baking soda ; 3/4 tsp salt ; zest from 1 lemon ; 2 & 1/2 cups flour ; about 3 tsp of poppy seeds (to taste)

First, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grate the lemon so you don’t have to try to get the zest when your hands are all doughy later. Then cream the sugar, brown sugar and margarine till its smooth. I found it was easiest to use a pastry blender until the margarine was in small, easy-to-smoosh pieces.

Then add the vanilla and lemon zest. (I modified a recipe I found online to fit my tastes. The online recipe said 1 tsp of lemon zest, but if I want lemon cookies, then I want lemon cookies.)

Then add in the rest, mix it up good, drop those little dough balls onto a cookie sheet and bake for about 12 minutes or until done. Could it get any easier?

So why the early-morning bakery? Well, this weekend we’re going to a Father’s Day cook-out at Robb’s aunt’s house in Holmes County, and they’re having a cookie swap (which means everyone brings two dozen cookies to trade). So here’s hoping my lemon poppyseed vegan delights impress the in-laws

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